The present invention relates to breading machines for applying a coating of breading substance to the outer surface of a food stuff. Breading machines attempt to replicate the quality of hand breading, which often entails a worker rolling food stuff in a bowl of breading material or shaking the food stuff in custom baskets of breading material. Both drum/roller machines and linear/assembly breaders offer increased efficiency over hand breading, allowing few workers to bread many food stuffs in a shorter period of time.
When breading with a drum or roller machine, the food stuff to be breaded is placed within or fed into an inner chamber of the machine, such as a rotary drum. Breading material is added and the food stuff and breading material are tumbled together within the rotary drum, to adhere the breading material to the outer surface of the food stuff. This often necessitates applying a liquid or batter to the outer surface of the food stuff prior to placing it in the rotary drum, to facilitate adhesion of the breading material. Rotary drums are also used to dislodge excess breading material, which may have been applied to the food stuff by different means. However, there are limits to the number of food products that can be tumbled together at any one time and, thus, the efficiency of these machines is limited. Additionally, breaded food stuffs generally exit the rotary drum in a heap, requiring labor to separate the breaded product across a belt, where the product is to be packaged or cooked in an assembly line process. Disruption of the breaded food stuffs during separation may result in loss of the breading material.
Linear breaders attempt to increase efficiency over drum or roller machines by using moving belts or grates to conduct food stuffs through a breading process. Typically, the food stuff to be breaded is placed on the belt or grate and breading material is poured or dumped onto the surface of the food stuff as it moves along the line. Early assembly or conveyor breaders generally included a single conveyor belt onto which breading material was placed, either by hand or by mechanical means, such as gravity spill or conveyance by auger. Once the breading material was on the surface of the conveyor, the food stuff to be breaded was placed on top of the breading material by a worker. Additional breading material would then be dumped on top of the food stuff as it moved along the conveyor line. A second worker would then remove the food stuff for packaging.
More recently, assembly breaders with multiple conveyors have been introduced in an effort to better coat food stuff and more closely replicate hand breading. Food stuff may be dropped from one conveyor to another, sometimes hitting bars or other assemblies meant to flip the food stuff so that, in theory, all sides of the food stuff are exposed to breading materials. One such machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,493 to Miller. Food stuffs processed by the Miller device are dropped from one conveyor belt onto another. The food stuff may flip in this process; however, dropping food stuff from one conveyor belt onto another increases the likelihood of damage to the food stuff. For example, as food stuff drops from one belt to another, it may break apart or be otherwise damaged. Further, as the product drops from one conveyor belt to the next conveyor belt, much of the breading material is actually dislodged from the surface of the food stuff. While multiple flipping conveyor belts aid in exposing all sides of the food stuff to the breading material, it is difficult to achieve a consistent uniform coating of thick breading, as desired for “home style” coating, with devices such as Miller's.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,216 to London seeks to remedy such drawbacks. The London patent recognizes the inherent benefit of tumbling a product in a volume of breading material rather than flipping the product along multiple conveyor lines. London utilizes a plurality of “tumble chambers” into which food stuffs are conveyed throughout a line process. As the food stuff is placed into a tumble chamber, it is allowed to tumble in a volume of breading material until all outer surface areas of the food stuff are coated. The London device, however, is relatively complex in that food stuffs are placed on a belt that periodically is allowed to slacken to form the tumble chambers. Once the tumbling process is completed, the conveyor belt is pulled taut by rollers, which then allows the food stuff to move along the assembly line. The repetitive slackening and tightening of the conveyor belt subjects the system to rapid wear and continued maintenance, which may decrease overall efficiency. This problem is heightened by the fact that the breading material used in these machines can causes rapid wear of belts, rollers, and gear assemblies. Moreover, conventional breading materials stick to virtually all parts of a breading machine that, due to health standards, must be continually cleaned.